The Real Mitt Romney Should Have Run for President!

There's a new documentary, Mitt, that takes a look at the Mitt Romney presidential campaigns. The film is getting a lot of attention, and causing many journalists to wonder why the Mitt Romney in the film wasn't the one who ran for president.

It's a bit like asking why drinking a particular brand of beer doesn't make you as popular with attractive strangers as the beer ads promised.

The film was discussed on NBC's Meet the Press (1/26/14), introduced with a graphic reading "Romney Revealed." After playing a clip of a comedy routine Romney performed with NBC host Jimmy Fallon, Meet the Press's David Gregory said, "Hey, where was that Mitt Romney, right?" Former Romney adviser Mike Murphy weighed in: "He is a very funny guy in real life…. You get a three-dimensional picture of him."

Also on Meet the Press, New York Times Washington bureau chief Carolyn Ryan explained that she had covered Romney in the '90s, and back then, "you sort of saw that droll, kind of self-mocking sense of humor…and that's the first time, in that documentary, where I've seen it again."

On CBS's Face the Nation (1/26/14), host Bob Schieffer said, "About halfway into it, I thought, why didn't the guy I'm seeing here run for president?" He added that "the Romney in that film was a far more likable guy than the candidate we saw. In American politics, that counts for a lot."

On ABC's This Week (1/26/14), Jonathan Karl set up a report with this: "A side of Mitt Romney we rarely saw during his White House run. And now a new documentary is pulling back the curtain even more." Correspondent Martha Raddatz explained:

Those close to him always said, if only Americans knew the real Mitt. A new documentary, screened at Sundance last week and released on Friday, introduces anyone with a Netflix subscription to the real Mitt.

On NBC Nightly News (1/24/14), correspondent Peter Alexander said that "in just 90 minutes, the filmmaker really conveys this warm, human side of Mitt Romney, something that in covering his 2012 campaign, I can tell you his veteran consultants constantly struggled with. Ultimately, they failed to accomplish." And that morning, Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie interviewed Romney, asking him this question:

One of the things that people say about this movie is it manages in 90 minutes to do something that your campaign never could, which is really show who you are, this personal side of you. Do you think that's true? I mean, is this the real Mitt Romney?

It is bizarre to watch journalists imagining that a filmmaker who is close to–and obviously fond of–his subject might be providing anything like the "real" version of that person. It's a snapshot, likely every bit as contrived as a campaign ad or a stump speech. Journalism is–hopefully–an effort to challenge such image-making, not celebrating its authenticity.

And the other point: The idea of democracy is that politicians are supposed to run based on the policies they intend to implement if they win office. The goal of election coverage should be to explain to the citizenry what the candidates are proposing to do in office, whether they are likely to do these things and what would happen if they did them. The fact that the public didn't get a chance to see enough of the "fun" Mitt Romney, or the guy being a good father or grandfather, is irrelevant. Mitt is not "Romney Revealed," and it is troubling that so many journalists seem to think a puff piece offers a glimpse at the "real" version of a politician.

Activism Director and and Co-producer of CounterSpinPeter Hart is the activism director at FAIR. He writes for FAIR's magazine Extra! and is also a co-host and producer of FAIR's syndicated radio show CounterSpin. He is the author of The Oh Really? Factor: Unspinning Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly (Seven Stories Press, 2003). Hart has been interviewed by a number of media outlets, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and the Associated Press. He has also appeared on Showtime and in the movie Outfoxed. Follow Peter on Twitter at @peterfhart.

Now that these TV journalists admit that throughout a multi-year campaign process they utterly failed to inform the public about the "real Mitt", will they all resign and give people who know what they're doing a chance? Please?

I think the commentators expression are priceless as they created the image that the public saw on television and in the printed word. Romney has always been Romney, it was the media that presented the lie. So funny to read their comments now. Shameless they appear to be.

I think the commentators' expressions are priceless as they created the image that the public saw on television and in the printed word. "The word has more power than the sword". Romney has always been Romney, it was the media that presented the lie (Repeat the lie flip flop long enough and the public mind follows that stream of thinking.) So funny to read their comments now. Shameless they appear to be.

I love how the media pretends that some how we 'didn't see the real Mitt'. I contend there is no such creature; the man is a camouflage artist, able to change his strips or spots to match the background at will and in a split second. There is no real "Romney" only the ghost like image of a man, that flip/flopped so many times, they were considering using him for a fan in the summer.

Reminds me of the old anecdote about some concentration camp komandants and other officers in the Nazi hierarchy who attended church services with their families and were exemplary family men.
Mitt tried to sell an image, one that telegraphed what he hoped to achieve as President. I suspect his multi-million dollar campaign image was never designed to capture the "real Mitt," far from it.
The other side naturally proposed another, less desirable image of Mitt.
The other side's image prevailed, not to mention Mitt's blunders on the campaign trail.
Besides, documentaries may be sold as "neutral" but they can range from the sweet-heart variety to overt hit pieces. This gushing by "journalists" (corporate-sponsored members of the chattering class, if you ask me) who should know better is embarrassing.
Yet one more reason to avoid corporate media altogether…

Lets get this straight.If we all had a crystal ball that could look into the future and see that Mitt would of taken this country out of all its problems and brought on a wave of prosperity never before seen…..NOT ONE DEM WOULD OF CHANGED THEIR VOTE.NOT ONE BLACK.Thats how locked in you are.So any discussion along these lines is a waste of time.

And padre….if Mitt is what you say he is…What is Obama?A man ten times more successful at hiding who he is?Mitt lost because he did not energize his base.He refused to simply come out and say Obama is a liar on a grand scale.Not worthy to run a 7/11.That kept a lot home.he lost because the tea party lost upwards to 3 million votes(politico) due to the iRS moves.But mainly he lost because a Catholic Dem would not vote for jesus christ if he had an R in font of his name.Incapable of turning against obama even if the night before he admitted to being a child rapist

I haven't seen the film yet. Does it include that cute and very funny bit about Mitt tying his dog to the roof of the car during his cross-country trip? Or am I just imagining this more "human" side to him?

Sum is it my imagination that 98% of blacks voted for Obama?Many wards realizing a 100% vote for BAM(a Statistical impossibility and proof of fraud by the way)I have not see racism like that since Mississippi Klan country in the 50s

I've seen clips of this "documentary' of Mitt Romney cuddling with his grandchildren on the sofa. How sweet. How many people do that? What a great guy! It's as if he's normal. (He isn't.)

If the fluff piece was really truthful, they would have shown Mitt cuddling with corporations on the family sofa because as Mitt himself said, "Corporations are people, too!" Maybe they should have put Mitt's darling little grand kids in business suits.

We voters didn't get Mitt wrong. We know an amoral, money-grubbing traitor when we see one. If Jesus Christ wasn't talking about pigs (as in "cast not your pearls before") with Mitt's type, what was He talking about? Barn animals?

Well so much hatred for Mitt.Ok everybody that knows him…that grew up with him,who said how good a man he is..People that went to school with him(israeli prime minister had classes with him.Said Mitt was the class boy genius)Perfect SAT blah bla blah.So they are all wrong huh?What about BAM.No friends we really know of.No grades that are not hidden.Everything is a sectret.WHY?Ask yourself why?And how about all the rooked land deals.Waiting for a hearing when he gets out.Wanna look at Mitts charitable giving?Massive.Obama?non existent.Want to see how corporations have done underObama?You guys take the cake.Still hating.When the Fox lives in your hen house.Never have we ever elected a baffoon like what we have.And you dare to attack a man that obama is not even fit to get him his coffer…oops that was Clinton that said that about BAM wasnt it?

that grew up with him,who said how good a man he is..People that went to school with him(israeli prime minister had classes with him.Said Mitt was the class boy genius)Perfect SAT blah bla blah.So they are all wrong huh? -Micheal e

LIke always Clueless to the end, we could freaking care less how wonderful a person he is; I know tons of people who are "wonderful, Caring, smart" and I wouldn't vote for them either.

The problem is your so stupid, that you fail to realise this is one of the people who not only sent the bulk of american jobs overseas (to china) but also pushed and got the legislation to get a huge freaking tax break for doing it. So the man sold you out, sold out america and your still sucking his butt pretending that he is some savior. You can't fix the problem using the same moron thinking that caused the problem in the first place. You on the other seem to not think at all.

Mitt Romney should run for president I believe he is the right person for the job. You need someone who can run a business and have it profitable. We need that in Washington. Someone who really has some religion behind them and who cares for the people.
I just read Mitt won't run. But now we need to have the Republicans agree from the start who they think has the best chance to win. If not then there will be so many votes out there going different directions for the Republicans they will shut themselves out yet another term. Get your act together and decide who you think will be best for the people of the US. I feel it was Mitt. Sorry to hear he really is not running. Decide quickly or ruin us again.